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News Bethesda: 'PC development is a headache'

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 10 Nov 2011.

  1. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

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  2. beckoner

    beckoner What's a Dremel?

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    My copy was despatched yesterday : may the gods let it arrive today!
     
  3. mjm25

    mjm25 What's a Dremel?

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    Yet the Steam Dragon won't release you from it's toothy jaw until tomorrow ;)
     
  4. technogiant

    technogiant What's a Dremel?

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    Bethesda should not be allowed to get away with comments like that, the problem with Rage was not driver support, it was the fact they didn't concern themselves primarily with the pc as a platform, something they now admit only after it became blindingly apparent after release.
    When it was released vsync did not work, multi gpu was not and still is not supported, higher resolution textures had to be forced via a config file rather than being accessible from the interface and config files had to be used to enable texture caching so pop in didn't occur.
    Far from the idtec5 engine pushing the pc to it's api bound limits as Carmack implied it didn't even make use of rescources commonly found in pc's......stop BS BetheSda.
     
    Bede likes this.
  5. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

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    for that, i'll let Bethesda get away with anything!
     
  6. Tomhyde1986

    Tomhyde1986 What's a Dremel?

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    I haven't played Rage although I am somewhat aware of the issues surrounding it.

    However the PC is such a diverse platform regarding system configurations that it can be nothing but a headache to some level.

    With consoles you don't need to worry about a range of hardware. All 360s and PS3s are the same hardware. That makes the task significantly easier. Drivers aren't an issue, multi GPUs, dual core CPUs, all that funky buisness isn't much of a concern because no console utilises them.

    When I was testing games for EA testing BF 2142 was significantly more complicated and often frustrating to say testing Fable 3 but not from a gameplay point of view. It took more coordination without a doubt but what was the real issue was trying to get 64 PCs with different system specs to all work at the same time. It was really tough at times.

    The only thing you really need to worry about with a console is network testing, performance and does it look okay.

    While the PCs flexability in hardware and software configurations is arguably its greatest strength, making effective use of that strength is considerably harder. Theres just so much more to take into consideration when designing the product.

    Just my 2 cents.
     
  7. TheStockBroker

    TheStockBroker Modder

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    I hope this isn't a precursor to a crappy PC Skyrim port!

    Bethesda, if you ruin this for me, I will come to your homes and offices and take away everything you hold sacred.
     
  8. Marvin-HHGTTG

    Marvin-HHGTTG CTRL + SHIFT + ESC

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    Liking the amount of PR spin in place with Mr Hines...

    I didn't see the Witcher 2 have multitudes of ridiculous game-breaking issues that weren't fixed immediately.

    I especially liked this bit:
    O'rly? When looking for a GT4 save game to use with PCSX2 the other day, I popped onto TPB to have a look. Typed in Gran Turismo, and low-and-behold, about 100 GT5 full game cracks etc for console use.

    PCs hard to develop for? Piracy only exists on PC? Lame excuses for crappy development, and this does little to stem my fears that Skyrim will be a buggy mess if they're employing damage limitation before release.

    The only good thing is that at least Bethesda allow modding, although that may just mean that modders have to fix their game for them...
     
  9. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    Note to bethesda: if I have to download almost the same again disk space wise in Mods and patches to fix all your crap design decisions and bugs... you're doing it wrong...

    Mr Hines just comes across as 'WAAAAAAAAAAAGH PC Development requires effort WAAAAAAAAAAGH why won't they just buy any random crap we churn out? WAAAAAAAAAAAGH'

    ...to me at least...
     
  10. NethLyn

    NethLyn Minimodder

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    Bethesda have long had form on buggy games (IIRC going back to their Terminator licensed game), and lying about one of the Elder Scrolls titles working on a GF5200 when it was a slideshow or wouldn't even start. Hines thinks we're just going to forget about all that.

    They could've taken the cost of the full sized London Underground posters and Channel 5 TV Sponsorship for Rage in the ad breaks for The Walking Dead and put that into QA, but they opted to "finish" it and go gold and just blanket hype it for sales.

    I have a 360 and am still not buying Rage because of theirs and iD's attitude, when it works I'll take another look. In fact the guy knows Skyrim will sell gazillions so the people who bought Rage could go stuff themselves as far as he cares.
     
  11. Instagib

    Instagib Minimodder

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    My copy arrive today. Obviously can't play it though, so I'm just content to sit here staring at it and sniffing it every few minutes. Shhhhhhiiiiinnnnnnnyyyyyyyy.
     
  12. the-beast

    the-beast What's a Dremel?

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    Which is why their games come pre-bundled with the Steam DRM for every distribution channel now then?
     
  13. the-beast

    the-beast What's a Dremel?

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    Damn that DRM!
     
  14. Phil Rhodes

    Phil Rhodes Hypernobber

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    Difficult to argue that PC won't be harder to develop for, to be honest. It's like web browsers and HTML, CSS and Javascript. OK, well, not quite that bad, perhaps, but a similar class of problem.

    I'd hoped that DirectX would abstract away most of it, but it would seem to be mainly an issue of competing implementations of various things.
     
  15. Cerberus90

    Cerberus90 Car Spannerer

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    That's what I was thinking.

    Maybe Microsoft need to pull their finger out and update DirectX to enable a more abstracted system, kind of like java.
    Although I suppose that just then shifts the burner onto Microsoft, although as the GPU drivers must be compatible with windows, it may be easier for Microsoft than game developers.
     
  16. t.y.wan

    t.y.wan What's a Dremel?

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    LOL about the driver issues. Texture popping is not driver issues, weird controls and core mechanics do not equal to driver issues...
    A lot of PC games came out just fine. Taking HARD RESET as an example, it is developed by an indie company, the game still feel smooth, the mechanics are solid, the game doesn't have texture popping craps...
    As for the piracy issues, seriously, if your game is solid, like COD or BF. You will sell good, if not very good.
     
  17. Roskoken

    Roskoken What's a Dremel?

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    PC gaming is dead :(
     
  18. atlas

    atlas What's a Dremel?

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    The PC development may be a bit of a headache because of the many configurations but you also produce the most beautiful version because of the powerful hardware. Glad to hear they not bogging the game down with DRM, well played Bethesda. Mines on pre-order already.
     
  19. NethLyn

    NethLyn Minimodder

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    For everything I said above, if Jeremy Soule composed the Skyrim soundtrack, I'd still keep an open mind about buying it just on the music alone - and I'd hope any collector's edition had it on CD.
     
  20. Hovis

    Hovis What's a Dremel?

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    Can't wait for Skyrim. Not just because I expect the basic game to be good, but because if it goes the same way as Oblivion, which it surely will, then there'll be years of awesome modded content to come. If a developer takes pains to ensure that the community can modify and expand their games, then that developer is good people. I've lost a lot of respect for Bioware since they went down the closed shop route with their games and threw the modding community that built up around Neverwinter Nights under the bus. Skyrim probably won't be perfect when it comes out, but in six months to a year I'll have it tailored to suit my style and it will be.

    Give a man a game, and he'll play that game for a while. Give the man the means to change that game and it'll keep him amused for years.
     
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